Reversible buffing pad



Dec. 3, 1968 T. H. REID REVERSIBLE EUFFNG PAI) Filed Jan, 16, 1967 INVENTOR. mwa/m5 HZJ United States Patent O 3,413,674 REVERSIBLE BUFFING PAD Thomas H. Reid, 9341 Piedmont, Detroit, Mich. 48228 Filed Jan. 16, 1967, Ser. No. 609,578 2 Claims. (Cl. 15--230.12)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A reversible buing wheel having piled opposite surfaces one of which acts as a buliing surface and the other of which acts as a cushioning surface for the buing surface. The buting wheel has a continuous piled surface from one face to the other with the pile extending around the edge. This continuous piled surface is formed by adhering two piled members in back-to-back relationship, steaming the thus joined article and tumbling and drying to cause intermixing of the tufts at the periphery of the article.

Background of the invention r This invention relates to the art of bung or polishing pads.

The many uses of buing or polishing pads are well known and one such use is the polishing of automobile finishes. Due to the high buffng speeds, considerable care must be taken to avoid burning or otherwise damaging the painted surface. Such damage may occur when the buing wheel is moved across a concave surface of the article being buifed. In such cases, conventional buing wheels will cause burning due to the high peripheral velocity at the edge of the butfing wheel. Conventional bufng wheels have not provided a soft enough surface at the edge to preclude this burning. In addition, the pressure exerted upon the bufng Wheel by the operator has considerable bearing in the degree of surface nish obtained.

To preclude the foregoing detrimental effects, various types of buing wheels have been proposed that embody curved or cushioned peripheral edges. In addition, cushioning of the entire buing pad by means of sponge rubber or pneumatic bladders have been proposed. These proposals all add considerable cost to the builing pad, which may, in many instances, have an extremely short life.

Summary of the invention This invention overcomes the aforenoted defects by providing a reversible polishing wheel that is comprised of rst and second annular backing sheets formed from relatively flexible material. A plurality of tufts of buiiing material are Woven through each of the backing sheets to present piles of buthng material on one side of each such backing sheet. The backing sheets are fixed to each other with their piles extending in opposite directions. Means are provided for fixing the polishing wheel to a driving member with the piles of buing material carried by one of the annular backing sheets being presented to a surface to be polished and the piles of the butng material carried by the other annular backing sheet serving as a cushion for the polishing surface. Thus, no separate cushioning structure is required. In addition, when the one polishing surface becomes worn or contaminated to such a degree that it can no longer be used, the polishing wheel may be reversed. The spent surface will still be effective to provide a satisfactory cushion for the newly presented polishing surface. Thus, the cushioning function is achieved without added cost and, in fact, a reduced overall cost is achieved due to the dual use permitted by the pad.

A polishing or butiing wheel embodying this invention also -is formed with the tufts at the periphery of the respeclCC tive backing sheets interspersed so that a piled surface is presented around the edge of the bufting wheel. This reduces the likelihood of burning due to high tip velocities when polishing concave surfaces. This interspersion of the tufts is accomplished by iirst aixing the piled backing sheets together and then tumbling the article, which tumbing intersperses the tufts at the periphery of each backing sheet.

Brief description of the drawings FIGURE 1 illustrates a plan View, with portions broken away, of the buing wheel embodying this invention.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line 2 2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional View taken along the lines 3 3 of FIGURE 1.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invenlion A reversible buling wheel embodying a preferred form of the invention is identied generally by the reference numeral 11. The butiing wheel 11 is comprised f a pair of generally annular shaped backing discs 12 and 13 that may be formed from any suitable relatively exible material such as cotton duck or the like. A plurality of tufts of wool or other suitable polishing material are woven through the backing disc 12 in a known manner to provide a piled polishing surface 14 at one side of the disc 12. In a like manner, a plurality of tufts are woven through the backing disc 13 to form a pile polishing surface 15 at one face of the dise 13. The tufts are arranged in a generally circumferential pattern around the respective backing discs 12 and 13, as indicated by the reference numerals 16, 17, 18, 21, 22 and 23. The tufts are ranged closely enough together so as to provide a substantially continuous pile surface on each side of the polishing wheel 11.

The tufted backing sheets 12 and 13 are atiixed to each other in any suitable manner, as by the application of an adhesive between the untufted surfaces thereof, as clearly shown in FIGURES 2 and 3. The adhesive is identified generally by the reference numeral 24 and may be of any known type. This gives the wheel 11 sufficient rigidity to act in the desired manner.

In order to provide means for attaching a polishing wheel 11 to an electric drill or other suitable power source, the discs 12 and 13 are formed with generally circular openings 25 and 26 at their centers. A pair of annular backing members 27 and 28 also having central openings 29 and 31, respectively, are xed between the backing discs 12 and 13 adjacent their apertures 25 and 26 by the adhesive. The members 27 and 28 may also be formed from cotton duck, the double layer giving sufficient rigidity for an effective attachment to a driving power tool. The tufts adjacent the center of the discs 12 and 13 will substantially cover the attachment member in use.

When the polishing wheel 11 is aixed to the driving source which, as has been noted, may be a conventional electric drill, the pile surface 14 can first be presented to the surface to be buffed. The pile surface 15 will act as a cushion for the surface 14 during polishing so as to give the operator the requisite feel so that he may apply the optimum polishing pressure to the pad. After the surface 14 becomes worn, contaminated or otherwise spent so that it is no longer satisfactory as a polishing surface, the wheel 11 may be reversed on the power tool with the surface 15 then serving as a polishing surface. Even though the surface 14 is no longer suitable as a polishing surface, it will still have suicient resiliency to act as a cushion for the now used polishing surface 15.

In order to preclude damage to the surface being polished, particularly if it is concave, it is desirable if the tufts of the respective backing discs 12 and 13 are merged 5 so as to provide a continuous piled surface from one face to the other around the edge of the Wheel 11. This interspersion occurs in the area identied by the reference numeral 32 in FIGURE 2.

The interspersion is achieved by iirst aixing the discs 12 and 13 together in the manner previously noted. The thus joined article is then steamed so as to moisten the piles 14 and 15. The article having the moistened pile is then placed in a conventional commercial dryer and dried by tumbling and exposure to heated air. After the article is dried, the tumbling may continue either with or Without heat. This tumbling and drying has been found to provide an eiective interspersion of the tufts at the periphery of each of the discs 12 and 13 so as to provide a continuous piled surface around the periphery of the polishing wheel 11.

While it will be apparent that the preferred embodiments of the invention disclosed are Well calculated to fulfill the objects above stated, it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible to modification, variation and change Without departing from the proper scope or fair meaning of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A reversible polishing or butiing Wheel or the like comprising a iirst annular backing sheet formed from a relatively exible material, a plurality of tufts of buing material woven through said rst backing sheet and presenting piles of said buing material on one side of said rst backing sheet, a plurality of tufts of bufling material woven through said second backing sheet and presenting piles of said buing material on one side of said second backing sheet, means aixing adjacent faces of said backing sheets together with the respective piled buing surfaces of said backing sheets facing in generally opposite directions, said tufts of buing material carried at the periphery of each backing sheet being interspersed with each other to provide a continuous piled surface across the edge of said bufng wheel from one of its faces to the other of its faces, and means for aixing said polishing Wheel to a driving member With the piles of buflng material carried by one of said backing sheets being presented to a Surface to be polished, the piles of buing material carried by the other of said backing sheets serving to cushion the piles used for polishing.

2. A reversible polishing or bung wheel or the like as set forth in claim 1 wherein the means for aixing said polishing wheel to the driving member comprises circular holes formed substantially at the center of the respective backing sheets.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,358,538 11/1920 Fry et al 15-235 1,905,163 4/1933 Farquhar 15-226 XR 1,962,248 6/1934 Levy` 15-209 XR 2,471,114 5/1949 Metcalfe 15--230.l9 3,005,219 10/ 1961 Miller. 3,141,185 7/1964 Terzian 15-230 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 985,584 3/1951 France.

DANIEL BLUM, Primary Examiner. 

